Human Beings and Happiness: the Central Core of Human Existence - Research Paper Example

 According to Aristotle, there are two kinds of virtue: moral and intellectual virtue. Moral virtues are not innate according to Aristotle but they are acquired. For instance, an individual becomes trustworthy by acting truthfully. Intellectual virtues are those personality traits that are required for correct thinking and desired action. Aristotle classified intellectual virtues as productive such as craft knowledge, theoretical such as wisdom and mind and lastly practical such as practical prudence. Happiness is the central core of living, which depends entirely on cultivation of virtues. According to Aristotle, playing the mean is the way of cultivating virtues that includes moral virtues for the attainment of individual happiness. Playing the mean is the virtue between two extreme excesses and deficiency. For instance, exercising the act of justice in getting too little or getting too much. Therefore, human beings make choices depending on the circumstances that surround them by choosing on one option and neglecting the other with the aim of achieving great happiness. Aristotle believed that task of ethics was to come up with the highest and the best good that is found in human life. Thus, all human activities always aim at some recognized higher end that we always consider as good. Most activities that human beings incur in are a means of attaining a higher end. He discussed the nature of vices and virtues that are involved in evaluating morals, the conditions that ascribes moral responsibility towards an individual agent and the methods that one incurs to achieve happiness in life. According to Aristotle, every activity posses a final cause and the aim for the same good. There is no infinite regress that is associated with extrinsic goods and thus there must be the highest good, which all-human activities aim. He referred to this as happiness and the complexities that is involved in actualizing it. Things that are of any variety, acquires characteristic function, which they later perform. The good for most human beings must involve proper functioning of human life which the soul or mind controls to express genuine excellence and virtue. Therefore, human life should be aimed in total conformity with rational natures. Thus, the satisfaction of a particular desire and acquisition of the material goods is less important as compared to achievement of the virtues. Therefore, a happy person will appropriately exhibit a personality that is balanced between desire and reason with moderation characterizing all. Virtue is a reward on its own and true happiness can be attained through cultivation of virtues that make up human life as complete. For Aristotle, God exists in philosophical abstraction but not in body or personality. Human happiness is privilege of few people in society who are destined to be servants. These people get it by the practice of morals, which, for Aristotle, are the actions of a few who are destined to be servants. Happiness has nothing to do with religion Virtues are opposed to intellectual capacity and thus virtues of characters are due to dispositions to act in a given way in response to some similar situations and the habits that one has which makes him behave in a certain way. Good conduct arises from habits, which can be acquired through recurring actions and corrections, which makes ethics a practical discipline. Each virtue is a state that naturally seeks its own means, which is relative. The virtuous habit of any action is an intermediate state between opposed vices of deficiency and excess. In application of this theory of virtue, flexibility is paramount as friendliness is far from deficiency than its excesses. This is because few human beings are inclined naturally to undervalue pleasure thus it is unusual to ignore or overlook either of the extremes but to regard the virtue opposite the other vices. Thus, Aristotle’s ethics is governed at moderate rates, which have dominated the western cultures for a very long time. Ethics being a practical science focuses on human nature, which works on accepting and acting moral responsibility. However, moral evaluation of action presupposes attributions of responsibilities to human agents. This does not apply to all attributions, as responsible actions must be taken voluntarily. Aristotle gave out two conditions under which human actions become voluntary. First, he asserted that actions which are produced by external forces are taken as involuntary which the agent is not fully responsible for them. Secondly, involuntary actions may be one that is performed out of ignorance. Thus, for all decisions to act in a voluntary way, we rely on deliberations about choice among the alternative actions, which an individual could perform. Despite the fact that virtues are habits of disposition, which act in a definite way, Aristotle asserted that these habits are acquired when one engages in suitable conduct on definite situations and that in so doing; it requires that one think about what one engages in doing in a given way. Furthermore, no demonstrative knowledge of sort employment in aesthetics and science judgment in relation to craft is relevant to morality. Thus, the understanding can be applied to exploring origin of things while wisdom traces any demonstrable connections, which are among them. Prudence or practical intelligence is the thinking mode that which provides morality in an adequate way. This comprehends a true character of individuals and the community welfare, which applies the results to guidance of human actions. To act correctly, one coordinates his desires with the correct thoughts over correct ends or goals. Deliberative reasoning considers the extent at which each one of them could contribute towards achieving the appropriate end or goal, engaging in the action voluntarily and making deliberate choices to act in a way, which best fits its end. Therefore, intelligence is the basis of acquiring virtue though it differs from intelligence. Aristotle disregarded Socrates belief about knowledge on what is right always leads to doing the same thing. The greatest enemy of moral conducts is the failure to act well on the occasion when deliberations on what may be wrong. Therefore, incontinent agents do suffer from weaknesses of will, which prevent carrying out measures considering conformity that they have reasoned out. This is failure of intelligence, as the individual may not draw appropriate connections between moral rule and particular applicable cases. The prospect that applies to great pleasures obscures one’s perceptions of what is good. Aristotle refuted that this difficulty should not be fatal towards achieving virtues. The roles of friendship and human relationships are elements of a vital good life. This is because no one would ever choose to live without friends even if he has all the other good things in life. He outlined three types of friendship basing on the intended aims and goals. First, friendship based on pleasure exists when two individuals discovers they have a common interest concerning any activity they wish to pursue unanimously. The participation of friends participating in any activity leads to a greater pleasure to each of the participants than it could apply to an individual person. Another form of friendship is grounded on the utility when two people come up to benefit each other through coordination. The focus is on the benefits that will be acquired rather than enjoyment the two acquire. He argued that friendship that focuses on the good arises when two people participate in an activity develops the goodness of the other. In this case, good is the relevant factor, pleasure, and utility do not apply. Pleasure to Aristotle, is incomplete and thus it is never good in itself. Therefore, valuable activities are associated with own distinctive pleasures. People are guided in life by natural preferences that engage in pleasant activity as compared to the unpleasant ones. Genuine happiness is in action, which leads to virtues because this alone provides the true values and not amusement. Contemplation is the only recognized moral activity due to its continuous, self reliant, pleasant, and complete. Intellectual activities involve human beings approaching divine blessedness and realizing the genuine virtues. Summarily, Aristotle through his works forms a good platform on which a person can draw his or here virtues in order to live in harmony with others. He argues that every human being strives to achieve happiness which is the central core of human existence. Human beings should only value valuable activities in life that are associated with different pleasures because pleasure in itself is incomplete and can not be associated with good life. Work Cited Aristotle. Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011. Print. Read More